Fire Emblem: Municipal Election
by Brianna Reiss
Summary: Four hundred years after Mystery of the Emblem, the reconstruction of Thabes, the capital of the Kingdom of Marmotord, was almost complete. However, corruption ran rampant among the city officials and the King of Marmotord ordered that elections be held, with one of Catria's descendents running for mayor.
1. Corruption Abounds

Prologue: Corruption Abounds

Nearly four hundred years have elapsed since both Gharnef and Medeus was defeated at the hands of Marth. and therefore one thousand years have elapsed since Anri defeated Medeus for the first time. The last four centuries were a long-lasting period of peace where trade could flourish all over the world. And so, the kingdom of Marmotord, located in, and ruling over, the Desert of Death, was finally rebuilt, and Thabes was gradually rebuilt by generations upon generations of Marmotord residents. And the reconstruction of the ancient city was nearing completion. This desert locale would become an idyll of peace... were it not for the rampant corruption among the city government.

Thus Thabes, the capital of Marmotord, was ordered, by a royal edict, to conduct its first municipal elections because the King no longer trusted the government officials then in place, whose officials gained office through court intrigue. The people demands to have some say in how the city is run. The edict did plan for an elected city council, with 12 councillors, each of which representing a city district, and the chief justice assigned to the city was to oversee the electoral process. Little did the judicial system know that, while the people demanded some say in how the city was run, very few would actually go as far as running for office, be it a seat in the city council or even mayoral race. And so the odyssey of Fazia, an officer in the Marmotord army, said to descend from Catria, one of the heroes of the War of Heroes, begins, as she officially announces to run for mayor. begins.

"Commander, look at this unbelievable list of requirements if we are to run a successful electoral campaign: mandatory declaration of all donors that give more than 100 gold to this campaign, mandatory reporting of all campaign-related expenditures, we're limited to 10,000 gold for the entire campaign, which is to last 15 days..." Melda, Faiza's campaign manager, explained.

"For all of what it is worth, we need a campaign platform. We're not going to win this campaign with my own looks alone. However, given that I serve in the military, I could include some law enforcement section in the platform but, if I did so, I should try a way not to scare off the electors that could think of me as a potential tyrant"

"Commander, how is the command of this force be assumed while you are out in the streets in an attempt to become the mayor of the city?" asked some worried musketeer.

In the four hundred years following the War of Heroes, Marmotord developed firearms as well as gunpowder, and Thabes became home of the world's largest supply of gunpowder and firearms. For this reason, Thabes became a fortress lined up with dozens of cannons of various sizes, and the Msrmotord military comprised two regiments of musketeers. Officers of the musketeer corps wore cavalry armor; the standard issue musket contained a bayonet, which allowed musketeers to use their firearms as lances at close quarters. But this question of interim command was loaded from Faiza's standpoint.


	2. Mayoral Responsibilities

Chapter 1: Mayoral responsibilities

The mayoral campaign was just the beginning. Faiza's loyal soldiers were assembled in the briefing room so that they could get some planning for the weeks ahead. She wonders how many will chip in 99 gold to get the campaign going. At this point, all the other candidates are getting ready to build their platforms, but they have yet to know whether city council candidates will rally to their cause or not. And, while Faiza is expected to get a majority support among the army, no one in the army knows who the civilians will side with. With some of the low-ranked soldiers ready to get Faiza some suggestions, they stand ready to do their part for the city campaign.

"Commander, before we establish our campaign, please, let us go to the library and, hopefully, get volunteers for the upcoming mayoral campaign; you may also want to tour the city and ask some residents about the main non-security issues of the city other than corruption" Jaid told Faiza while still in the barracks.

"In fact, for corruption, we are going to need some spies, some magic users to accomplish that. Magic users that can do audits. Because there are those magic users that can read accounting documents... I sure hope that we have our auditors at the ready. By the way, Jaid, Melda, do you have any idea where one can find the text of the edict?"

"The Tower of Thabes ought to have a copy posted outside. The King resides in the Tower, and royal edicts are normally posted at the entrance of the tower, But the King posts a couple of copies at strategic points in the city: city hall, marketplace, as well as the gates and the public fountains" Melda answered.

"Melda, assemble some men; we're out on patrol and we are also looking for one of those areas where the edict has been posted" Faiza ordered.

Melda assembled four more musketeers to go out on patrol with Faiza and she took out a plank of wood so that she could write the essentials of mayoral responsibility on it. And so, the patrol navigated through the streets of the inner city, asking passersby about what they expect from their future mayor, with expectations ranging from better access to education to better enforcement of banking law, but Faiza has yet to gauge the realism of the citizens' expectation with that of the post she runs for. For her, security was something she valued, but she had little knowledge of city issues other than corruption and public security. Upon arriving at a public fountain, Faiza and Melda stops at the ornate, stone-hewn board, on which the edict, which also acted as the city charter under which Thabes will be operating after the election, was pinned.

"Look at the text of the edict... here is a list of the extent of the responsibilities of the city council and that of the mayor" Melda said, with Faiza still drinking from the fountain.

"Article 5: The responsibilities of the mayor. Section 5.1: The Mayor shall henceforth hold the power to veto legislation passed by the city council; however, that veto could be overriden by a 2/3 vote of the city council" Faiza began to read.

Faiza learned that the city bore much responsibility although the mayor did not have the power to reverse a judicial decision. She learned that education, public works, law enforcement (and therefore the military, through the city garrison), sewage, fire departments, as well as some entertainment responsibilities and public health responsibilities and a level of taxation. In essence, the mayor, as defined in the edict, was much like a lord, albeit without any judicial power, and without the ability to go to war against other entities. But what puzzled her was that the king would willingly let the people rule over the cities. In her mind, that meant that the mayor would be part of the nobility while in office; in fact, the king knew that the people did not want elections too often.

"That's a big bump in responsibility from my current position; Thabes is one of the major cities on this continent and no other city of this size ever elected its mayor before" Faiza declared.

"Is there anything you'd promise the voters at this point?"

"Stricter enforcement of banking law, as well as a raise in taxes for the banks. I come to the realization that, while banks are not the root of the corruption by themselves, the banks still play an important role. Plus banks are that sort of business that has to be present anywhere where trade is present; there has to be some way to levy higher banking taxes without raising interest rates to the point of economic collapse"


	3. Candidacy Made Official

Chapter 3: Candidacy made official

With one electoral promise announced, Faiza read further into the edict and realized that there was a particular article in the edict that pertained specifically to how to make a candidacy official, as well as the fees associated. It came to her surprise when she realized that all she had to do was to show up at the Tower of Thabes, sign a contract, which was to be signed by the campaign manager also, and finally pay the candidacy fees. But, between the royal palace, located at the topmost level, and Faiza's current position, somewhere on the first level, the party had to walk for a while just to get to the gate leading to the upper levels, the very stairwell Faiza's ancestor, Catria, had to watch over as Marth climbed it to reach Gharnef.

"I wonder how many people are on the electoral list… and who could vote. Am I eligible to run anyway?" Faiza asked.

"The edict said, about voter eligibility: One is eligible to vote for the city council and the mayor provided that person is aged 18 or older by Election Day, one is not a serf or a slave, regardless of gender. One additional restriction is imposed in order to run for office: one shall not be convicted of a crime in order to be deemed eligible to run" Melda explained.

"Remember, the previous city administration lived in the lap of luxury; the people are angry at how their rulers abused the treasury. It would be best to implement more transparent policies once you are in office… or else the election might turn sour mere months afterward" Jaid suggested, on their journey.

"That we also promise to set up a team in charge of making the city expenditures transparent, of holding the banks to tighter rules pertaining to their operations… even that is only scratching the surface of the city's issues"

Faiza continues her journey to the Tower of Thabes, collecting information along the way. And she realizes that she has more to do in order to gain the hearts of the populace. And, for the next hour, she is going through several districts of the desert city, which could somehow contain 50,000 people. Then again, Marmotord has much of its supplies imported and Thabes was the terminus of a major trade route that went through Khadein, from which food was delivered in exchange for weapons, gunpowder and blown glass. However, glass objects were to be stored in sand for transport. After climbing several stairs, Faiza arrives at the main gate of the royal palace, where the electoral commission, tasked with registering candidates, is located.

"What is your business in the palace, milady?" asked a palace guard, inspecting the credentials of the party.

"My name is Faiza, commander of the 1st battalion, XI regiment. I am here to officially declare my intention to run for Mayor of Thabes.

"You may pass" the palace guard told the group. "The Electoral Commission is located on the right-hand corridor on the third floor"

The garrison of Thabes comprised an entire division of Marmotord's army, with seven regiments, including the palace guards (I regiment), totalling 8,000 men. The XI regiment was the musketeer regiment assigned to the city while the other musketeer regiment, the XII regiment, was stationed in another fortress up north, Port Mungo. A General led the party through the palace, which was a vertical construction, and passed by multiple nobles and multiple palace workers, such as the cooks, the maids and so on, so forth.

"Milord, this is Faiza, a mayoral candidate that desires to make her candidacy official" the guard announced.

"Lady Faiza, I hope that you are aware of the regulations. And I hope that you know that, while the mayoral responsibilities are heavy, almost like that of a lord, you will hold a lordly title at the discretion of the King at the time of inauguration. However, the nobility rank that comes with the mayoral office is not hereditary" Roark, the chief returning officer, told Faiza.

"You mean that I will hold the office for life if elected?"

"Yes. Please take note that the city council can choose to hold a recall election if the council feels that a mayor is incompetent. Understanding that, do you still want to run for the office?" asked Roark.

"Yes, I still want to run for mayor."

"By the way, Faiza, who is your campaign director?"

"Me, and my name is Melda" Melda answered.

"Very well, but you will have to pay 500 gold at some point before Election Day"

Roark hands Faiza a contract with all the terms under which she is to run for the office of Mayor of Thabes. That contract requires the signature of both the mayoral candidate and his/her campaign manager. Faiza looks for 500 gold coins in her purse, and pays the filing fee shortly after the contract is signed. And she looks at the list of candidates officially entered for both city council and mayor. The electoral commission did not expect Thabes freedmen or free people to even desire to run for the city council in such numbers; the King decreed that the city council was to be formed of 34 councillors, elected for life, rather than the originally planned 12.

"Look at how many want to become city councillor rather than mayor…" Melda pointed out. "Perhaps a city council position is less dangerous than that of the mayor; the population pretty much expects a democratically elected mayor to be assassinated at some point in office, hence why there are only three candidates, including you, for mayor, but no less than 150 candidates for a city council seat"

"I assume that a city council election would become chaotic if a district had 14 candidates, like my home quarter used to before the King decreed the City Council expanded. But we must get going to the nearest market and set up a booth; it is still market day, after all"

The market at the base of the second level is the primary market of the city, where people from several miles away from the city congregated to purchase supplies other than foodstuffs. And so the party of electoral campaigners made for the marketplace where the populace was expected to learn about the new developments in the nascent electoral campaign, and not just about shopping. Upon arriving at the marketplace, the guards assigned to the market took Faiza and showed her an empty stall that she could use for today.

"Milady, as with all other mayoral candidates, you are authorized to use one stall on market days for free. You may use your stall time to advertise your selling points" the guard explained.

"Milady, I think I see the other mayoral candidates at their stalls: Grace, as well as Kerson. If I may, I will scout their stalls to see what their platforms are" Jaid suggested.


	4. Educational Issues

Chapter 4: Educational Issues

"What news, Jaid?" Faiza asked.

"Milady, I am afraid that Kerson accuses you of caring only about public security and corruption. He challenges you to find a solution to the lack of access to elementary education in the city"

"Jaid, so public education is under municipal jurisdiction… I'd have the city rent some spots that are currently unrented to house communal schools. Thabes may be attractive to arms merchants, or even arms makers, but the quarters affected by the shortage of school spots would be revitalized in the longer run, or at least keep its current residents"

"This is a plan that would not fly very well with the majority of the residents. Could you imagine how noisy or smelly would classrooms in such settings be? And how hard it will be to get teachers for that sort of areas?" a passerby asked.

"There is a glut of teaching personnel on the market for elementary-level education; the educational access problems stem from a lack of infrastructure more than a lack of qualified personnel. Magic-users in the military can be used, in peacetime, for that purpose, hence the proposed supply"

And then Kerson got out of his stand to go to Faiza's stand. The guy sported a staff, a long beard, as well as white hair. However, for some reason, Faiza recognized him. He was looking elderly, and he wasn't going to get any younger. Yet, Kerson was ready to get out of his stand and confront Faiza at the market. The people in the market that actually lived in the city limits got closer to the candidates, while the merchants that didn't live in Thabes didn't notice the verbal joust about to get underway.

"I remember you, Kerson. You were the mercer that repaired our uniforms back in the day where I was knighted. You aged faster than your shadow! Is there a reason why mages at the employ of the military couldn't educate the children of the city properly?"

"How would you be able to have enough mages in the city garrison to cover all the meducational and accountability needs of the city? Your accountability plan will require several mages… True, we are not at war, but would this plan stretch the forces too thin?"

"There are 500 mages in the city garrison. Do you think that 500 mages are not enough to cover all the needs of the city? If the school-aged population is about 10,000 and that the coverage expected is about ~50%, averaging 25 children a class…"

"50% coverage? That seems awfully high… perhaps too high for the city's good. Many, many kids will have little or no use for an education, 50% is too high" Kerson replied.

"You, who ages faster than his shadow, seem to think of an education as mostly a specialized tool in a person's toolbox. I might have not been a scholar or a magic-user, but 50% can make use of some education, albeit basic. They could keep track of accounting ledgers, plead cases in court, act as town criers… and prepare them for the more advanced education, be it as a librarian, a book vendor, or even as an architect, among others"

To Faiza's eyes, she envisions that a well-educated population could lead to increased productivity and less taxes in the long run, through technological advancement that would result. However, one has to plan the curriculum carefully for that to happen, because Faiza heard tales from wandering magic-users that pertained to poorly-designed education systems. Kerson had to think a little bit in order to get Faiza to debate a little further, because he didn't want Faiza to get away unopposed.

"Faiza, why do you assume that the curriculum would be so broad as to prepare people for such a wide variety of apprenticeships?"

"Of course, I would need some care in order to build one such curriculum. Lefcandith is universally acknowledged as a failure in that regard" Faiza responded.

"Yet Lefcandith has a literacy rate that rivals that of Khadein…"

"And Lefcandith doesn't have an army filled with magic-users to show for it, or is otherwise a kingdom that supplies specialized workers. Instead there are some people that study for years on end in order to achieve nobility through a test, acting as social parasites"

And the ambassador of Lefcandith arrived at the scene. Lefcandith is the capital of a kingdom of the same name that only covers a tiny parcel of land, even compared to Gra or Talys. However, while Lefcandith was treated as an equal by the Marmotord government, Lefcandith's diminutive size rendered it as a territory ruled by a mere kinglet. The other kingdoms, Gra, Grust, for example, did not treat it as Marmotord did. But both eagerly awaited the explanations from the Lefcandith ambassador.

"My name is Colza, Ambassador of Lefcandith to Marmotord. Just to clear things up, I feel compelled to defend the Lefcandith educational record. Yes, it is true that there are people who try every year to gain nobility through testing, but only a minority could actually study for years on end. In fact, only the children of richer merchants could do so."

"Your Excellency, perhaps we drifted a bit off-topic in our debate about educational issues. I do wish for Thabes to return to its former glory of a millennium past; only that will have to be done with educational care" Faiza answered.

"Excuse me, but how much is that plan going to cost?"

"It will perhaps cost thousands of gold, if only because of the supplies, but, on the longer term, it will reduce criminality to a more manageable level. We will have to spend more on the short term for long-term benefits. Even if it will take five to ten years to materialize, it's better than nothing. We will also introduce provisions for adult learners, as budgets permit" Faiza added.


	5. Landfill Market

Chapter 5: Landfill Market

Two days later, after this heated debate in the market, the campaign manager and Faiza's campaign volunteers convene in a new early morning council in order to decide the actions of the day. Earlier in the day, there were posters with Faiza's coat of arms plastered all over the city, reproduced with a moving type. With seven white stars on an arc, amid a black field, using black ink sufficed to craft what amounted to dozens of posters, since Faiza wanted the majority of the signposts in the city to have one of these wooden posters.

"We must go to the prison camp where the sanitation authority is headquartered. The prison camp is home to a landfill where the sewage of the city is held. Right now the sewage is becoming expensive for the city. Then we will make an announcement in the campaign, some promise pertaining to sanitation"

"That's a bold move, Faiza. No one would expect a future mayor to go to the Landfill to make a promise" Jaid reported.

"I know that the Landfill is a smelly place; the prisoners that clean up the sewage of the city do so at night, where the stench is not that intense. Because what gives the sewage a pungent odor is, in fact, more pungent as the temperature increases within the range of temperatures experienced here in Thabes"

"Other cities burned their sewage, Khadein being the largest; is that what you plan to do with the sewage?" Melda asked.

"I could see some glassblowers and some blacksmiths burning sewage as a source of heat. But that will not be the only use of the sewage. I will tell you what other uses there is to that sewage once we get to the landfill"

And so, the campaign team departs the fort of the XI regiment, located on the southern city limit, for the prison camp, located on the western city limit. The team has to walk under the hot sun, scorching their skin and uniforms in the process. But, at the same time, some female Thabes resident asked Faiza a question about her life and her family; that question caught her off-guard, since she expected questions about how to implement an electoral promise, be it educational, accountability, or security-related instead.

"Milady, is it true that your husband died in combat?"

"No, but it is true, however, that he is not stationed in Thabes. He is simply recovering from his injuries sustained in battle. He is the one that raises all our children away from home"

"Milady, how do you intend to reconcile with your parents? They will want to reconcile with you at some point, if you are elected. After all, you will then become the mayor of a major city"

"You knew my parents wanted to send me off to some magic school, the very magic school that trained the heroes of centuries past… but I fled from home to serve in the army, with the result we both know"

That magic school in question is an elite magic school in Khadein; if, somehow, Faiza gets elected as Mayor of Thabes, she will become one of the most famous people to have turned down a spot at the school. Alumni of that school Faiza spoke of that went on to serve in military operations are Ellerean, Merric… perhaps Faiza could have served in the Marmotord army as a mage had she followed her parents' advice. Yet, they continue their way to the Landfill while answering more natural questions, about sanitation, about education, about public security. And, once they arrive at that stench of an area called the Landfill… which really deserved its name because of the sewage that filled a large crater, which was the destination of years and years of accumulated sewage produced by the city.

"I am here today to announce that, if elected, I will put the contents of the Landfill up for sale, subject to the same trade regulations as any other merchandise manufactured in this city, be it as a fertilizer or as fuel!"

"Dear daughter, I just can't see who would even want to purchase sewage…"

"Dad, I can see some farmers who would purchase sewage if they feel they need fertilizer and that they do not have access to livestock; there are regions whose soil is suitable for orchards but that are not for livestock; this way we can sell our sewage and put it to use, and the proceeds will allow us to raise revenue without having to raise the taxes"

"This is going to threaten public health for miles and miles, milady…" a prisoner objected.

"In fact, sewage transportation in carts is no more dangerous than transporting livestock. Both materials carry similar health risks; after all, one's trash is another's treasure or, more accurately, tools in this context"

There is a reason why the Landfill is outside the main roads; prisoners had to be kept away from the city. But, again, the sanitation crews, manned by prisoners, were doing their patrols at night, since their work was very smelly due to the fact that they emptied cesspools. One of the prisoners asked a question about how the operation of the sewage market would affect the condition of the roads leading to the Landfill, none of them being paved.

"I fear that we are going to require a new road leading from the main pass leading to the northwest to this pit filled with sewage if this market was to be established…"

"No fear, prisoners! Even convicts can still have some legitimate say in how their city is run. I will promise that, in future elections, prisoners will still be able to vote as if they were legally residing in the Outer City."

The Outer City. A barren wasteland, where only a handful of white stone cabins are to be found, and the main tract of settled land is the Landfill, housing 1,500 convicts brought in from a radius of about five to ten leagues from Thabes. The prisoners that worked at night were not otherwise mistreated. And the Landfill was also known as being the largest prison camp in the world. So Faiza is making a bold gamble by allowing criminals to vote, and even allowing them to elect what amounts to being their own city councillor. Yet, somehow, she knew that not all of them were to live the remainder of their lives in the Landfill.

"Milady, this is madness! You're taking a major risk to let prisoners vote for their own city councillor; what if the city councillor they elect was a henchman of a crime lord? Campaigning among criminals is a dangerous business!" a security guard protested.

"But this is a right they will have once they have served their sentence. Court records show that only 99 of these convicts are serving life sentences"

"Milady, you're playing with fire. You're making one bold promise after another; Kerson and Grace will both reject this plan", Jaid pointed out.

"How much cash can you expect the city to raise with the sale of sewage?" Melda asked.

"Sewage goes for 150 gold coins a ton on the market; I could expect several million gold coins collected this way. Just about enough to cover the costs of running the prison camp…"


End file.
